About Nama Sankeerthanam

Dhyaayan krudhe yajan yagnai: Threthayaam Dhwaparersayan
Yathaapnothi thathaapnothi Kalau Sangeerthya kesavam

Says bhagavatha purana about the importance of NaamaSankeerthanam in Kaliyuga. “Tapas” in Thretha yugam, Yagnyam in Dhwapara yugam and Sankeerthanam in Kaliyugam are kept as yuga dharma to attain mukthi.

Sri Chaithanya, Sants Thukaram, Namadev, Gnaneswar, Muktha bai, Ekanathar, Kabir das, Thulsi das, Soor das and Meera bai propagated bhakthi in northern part of Bharath through Naama Sankeerthanam. Sri Chaithanya propagated Sri Geetha govindam (Ashtapathi) of Sri Jayadeva swamy across the country.

Dasa kutas in Karnataka, Azhwars and Nayanmars in Tamilnadu, Talapaka Annamacharya in Andhra propagated bhakthi through Sankeerthanam.

Sri Bodhendra saraswathi swamigal, Thiruvisainallur Sri Sridhara Ayyaval and Marudhanallur Sathguruswamy are considered as the trinity of Dakshina Bharatha sampradaya Naama Sankeerthanam. They lived in Cauvery delta near Kumbakonam in 17-18 centuries.

Sri Bodhendra saraswathi swamigal is the 58 th pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti peetam and he authored many books like Ramanaama rasodhayam and Rama naama rasaayanam to propagate Raamanaama sidhdhaantham. He attained jeeva samaadhi at a place called Govindapuram near Kumbakonam. He is the contemporary of Sri Sadasiva Bruhmendra.

Sri Sridhara ayyaval is an ardent Siva bhaktha. To test his Bhakthi Lord Shiva appeared before him on a ceremony day in “Chandaala roopa” asking food. Sri Ayyaval without even a second thought, offered food cooked for ceremony. When Brahmin priests insisted that Sri Ayyaval should take a bath at Holy River Ganges, water started over flowing from the well! Every year the anniversary is celebrated at Thiruvisanallur on Karthiga- Amavasa day.

Sri Marudhanallur sathguru swamigal is considered to be the father of Dakshina Bharatha Sampradhaaya NaamaSankeerthanam in its present form. He undertook a pilgrimage to Varanaasi. There it is believed that  he me Talapaka Annamacharya at Tadepalligudem in Andhra. There he got the inspiration to collect keerthanaas/bhajans of various bhakthas in various languages and created a “paddhathi” or Dakshina bharatha bhajana sampradhayam.

The sampradhayam has absorbed all languages in it and hence integrates entire nation under one roof – Bhakthi.

Sri Sathguru swamigal’s mutt is in a village called Marudhanallur near Kumbakonam. The tradition built by Sri Sathguru Swamigal is still followed with the same spirit by Sri Swamigals descendants. Sri Kothanda Rama Swamigal is the 6 th generation in the parampara of Sri Sath guru swamigal. Margazhi is celebrated with daily bhajans singing one Ashtapathi every day. Radha Kalyanam is celebrated on 24 th day of Margazhi every year strictly following the tradition initiated by Shri Sathguru swamigal.

In 20 th century so may bhagavathas following the path shown by Sri Sathguru swamigal lead a spiritual life. Some of them are Sri Subbu swamigal of Perambur, Sri Puthukkottai Gopala Krishna bhagavathar (Appa), his son Sanjeevi bhagavathar, Srirangam Sethu Madhava Rao, Kumbakonam Balu bhagavathar, Thiruvidaimarudhur Venkatrama bhagavathar, Mayuram Krishnamurthi bhagavathar, Thiruchendurai Krishnamurthy bhagavathar, Srivanjiyam Ramacandra bhagavathar, Nallur S Venkatarama bhagavathar, E K Srinivasa bhagavathar, NS Nataraja bhagavathar Etc.,

AL Krishnamurthy bhagavathar, E K Jayarama bhagavathar, Kanpur Mahadeva bhagavathar, Sethalapathi Soundararaja bhagavathar, Vittaladass Jayakrishna deekshithar, Kadayanallur Ganapathi Thukaram bhagavathar, Thinniyam Mahadeva bhagavathar, Udaiyalur  Dr. Kalyanarama bhagavathar, Erode Rajamani bhagavathar, Kovai Jayarama bhagavathar O S Sundar bhagavathar, AVK Rajasimha bhagavathar etc.,  are some of the bhagavathas of current era who have taken Namaprachaaram by Naama sankeerthanam as lifetime commitment.

Poojyasri Haridoss giri swamigal (Guruji) revolutionized the entire music world by his Bhajans. It is only after his efforts Sampradhaya Bhajans became an integral part of December Music festival in Chennai.